1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process and an application for handling information in relation to meat being conveyed through a number of processing stations. The information is used to trace the processing history of a piece of meat, including its origination. The ability to trace the processing history may be used e.g. in order to trace back sources of contamination and for verification of the status and quality, weight etc. of the meat. The information is furthermore useful for the workers processing the meat at the stations or useful for the control and management of the meat processing plant.
2. Description of Related Art
Applications comprising a conveyor system for meat in combination with electronic storage of information about the meat, such as information about the weight of the meat exist. Known systems typically comprise means for reading information from the provider of the meat, e.g. by use of a bar code reader and means for printing out the information e.g. for labelling packages with meat. The known systems are able to receive information related to a piece of meat and to pass the information along with the meat. However the known systems are adapted to convey the meat in batches so that the information about the meat is stored relative to a batch. As an example the meat from one animal or from a quarter of an animal is placed in one bin or hung on one hook. When the meat is cut into pieces these pieces are transported and stored together and in this way it is possible to trace the origination of the meat.
The present invention relates to a process wherein the position and information is traced in relation to every single piece of meat. This process offers enhanced flexibility towards when and where to process the individual pieces of meat. Two pieces of meat originating e.g. from the same quarter or hindquarter etc. may thus be processed in different places or at different time.
Due to the tracing of information related to the individual pieces of meat it is possible to provide the workers with processing instructions or with support for where, when and how to process the meat.
Furthermore the present invention relates to system capable of tracing all information related to the meat and to relate the information to information about the control and management of the meat processing facility or plant. The tracing can be performed by relating the information about the meat to information related to the purchase of meat or to the payment of the workers and to store the information throughout the processing of the meat.
According to a first aspect the present invention relates to an integrated meat processing and information handling method using a tracing method adapted to trace a position of a piece of meat on a conveyor, said meat processing and information handling method comprising the steps of:
storing in a computer system information related to a piece of meat,
transferring the piece of meat between a number of processing stations while the position of the meat is traced by the computer system,
for at least one processing station storing in the computer system further information related to the piece of meat or related to the processing of the piece of meat and
providing at least one processing station with information from the computer system.
The position of an item such as a piece of meat on a conveyor belt can be traced e.g. by means of sensors arranged in a number of places along the conveyor belt. When a number of pieces of meat are placed sequentially, e.g. in the beginning of the conveyor belt. The position of each piece of meat can be determined by tracing the number of pieces passing the sensors placed along the conveyor belt and by relating this number to the sequence of which the meat were placed on the conveyor. The pieces of meat can also be traced by monitoring their displacement, e.g. by keeping track of index pulses in the conveyor system or simply by monitoring the order in which pieces of meat enter and leave a conveyor belt. Another way of tracing the position of the meat on the conveyor belt is to attach the meat to a bin with an identification tag or to attach an identification tag directly to the meat.
The information related to a piece of meat could be information related to the origination of the meat such as from which farm or from which animal that piece of meat originated.
This is typically information that would be stored for a piece of meat as the meat enters the first processing station of a meat processing plant. Each time the meat is divided into smaller cuts from the meat, each cut may be associated with this information. Information related to the processing of the meat, such as related to a worker or a machine doing the processing or related to the quality of the processing, the weight of the meat, the time of the processing or the duration of the processing may be added to the information whenever such information is relevant to the meat or to the processing facility etc.
When the piece of meat is being conveyed between the processing stations the computer system must trace the position of that piece of meat so that the information related to the meat can be recalled and used e.g. for training purpose, for support of the processing worker or machine, for statistical purpose, for labelling the meat e.g. with weight and quality or origination information, for quality inspection of the meat etc. As an example a worker or a machine can recall the information related to a piece of meat and use the information to determine good ways of cutting the meat according to a pre-selected criterion. The criterion could be which cut is the fastest, which cut gives the highest profit, which cut is the presently most demanded cut by the customers, which cuts are optimal in relation to the quality of the specific piece of meat, which cuts fit given weight criteria etc.
According to a preferred embodiment the method further comprises the steps of
cutting the piece of meat into at least two pieces of meat and
storing in the computer system information related to the at least two pieces of meat.
The steps of cutting a piece of meat into a number of pieces of meat typically involve a problem with the tracing of the origination of the meat. One solution is to store all pieces of meat originating from one piece of meat in the same bin. Another solution is to store information related to a piece of meat, e.g. information related to the origination of a piece of meat and then trace the position of that piece of meat. In this way one logistic problem is solved in relation to the order of the production. Instead of having to process all meat related to the same origination subsequently to all cuts of a certain kind, no matter if they originate from different animals or even from different farms may be processed subsequently. In this way the workers may get used to doing one specific cut which enables a higher degree of repetitive work and a higher degree of specialization among the workers, or in case of automatic processing, a higher degree of specialization of the machines which could lead to higher efficiency.
The information related to the meat can be analyzed and used for controlling a processing station. As an example, the information can indicate that a piece of meat originates from a farm or from a country where a specific set of rules applies for the cutting of the meat. Such rules could be related to the cutting sequence and which part of the meat is to be used and which is to be destroyed. This could, e.g., be due to xe2x80x9cMad Cow Diseasexe2x80x9d or salmonella. As another example, the meat could be in a certain conditionxe2x80x94too much fat, too high bone weight etc.xe2x80x94so that manual processing would be too expensive and therefore automatic processing of the meat, e.g. for production of burger meat etc. should be selected. It could also be that a piece of meat could be cut into a varying number of cuts, wherein the cuts that match the meat on stock and order situation should be selected.
Information related to a number of pieces of meat could also be analyzed in order to provide information related to the origination of the pieces of meat, e.g. a number of pieces of meat having a certain characteristic. These might relate to a high fat percentage, certain bacteriological states or conditions etc. By means of the information symptoms and characteristics relating to a farm, a region or a country may be provided. E.g. if a certain disease is found in a number of pieces of meat, it may be analyzed if the pieces originate from one single animal or from one farm, a region or a country.
Another example is if a number of pieces of meat is infected by a disease and by analyzing the information it has been found that the pieces originate from a number of animals. The information may then be analyzed so as to find out if the disease may be related to processing by a specific processing station or a specific worker and it may be found that the disease has originated from an infected transportation bin, a worker etc.
It could also be the case that a number of pieces of meat are in a bad condition or even wasted due to wrong treatment of the meat. As an example, the meat may have been stored in a warm processing room for too many hours, a bone has been crushed so that the meat is filled with bone fragments etc. By analyzing the information from a number of wasted pieces of meat it may be found what happened to the meat and faults in the processing may be corrected.
According to another aspect of the invention the information may be used to trace the amount of resources spent on a piece of meat, e.g. how much automatic processing time and how much manual processing time. The information can be used to forecast a price and cost indication showing the profit or loss of the processing of a specific piece of meat. It may further be found that all meat originating from a specific farm takes longer time to process due to fat percentage or similar conditions or it may be found that one worker or one processing station has longer processing time than other. It may even be found that one worker is fast at processing one type of meat whereas the same worker is slow at processing another type of meat. By monitoring the information about the duration of processing for each worker, the performance of a worker may be compared to a reference value, such as the average processing time for a specific piece of meat or such as a performance related to a piece-contract for paying the worker. The worker can at the same time be provided with information related to this comparison, such as: xe2x80x9cyou are faster than averagexe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cyou have earned 10% bonus todayxe2x80x9d. Similarly the management for selection of workers for specific tasks may use the information.
Another aspect of the invention is related to a time stamp of the processing or of each of the processes included in the processing of the meat. Such a time stamp could ease the investigation if a piece of meat is found with a certain defect. The information may then be used to trace all meat processed at the same time of the same day, and/or at the same time at the same processing stations or by the same worker.
For processing stations operated by workers, the information may be used for guiding the worker through his work. For example, the worker may be provided with a graphical picture showing how to cut exactly the piece of meat lying in front of him on the processing table. Such guidance can be used for training new employees or for obtaining a higher degree of flexibility in the working staff. One example is if the management decides that the workers should be shifted around between the individual processing stations so as to obtain knowledge about many processes. In this way one worker can easily take over another worker""s place in case of absence. By means of the graphical presentation of instructions the worker can be working within a new area within a very short time.
According to a second aspect, the present invention relates to a computer program product for a digital computer, said computer program product comprising software code for performing the before mentioned method.
According to a third aspect the present invention relates to a meat conveyor for transfer of meat between a number of operation stations said conveyor comprising:
means for tracing a position of a piece of meat on the conveyor
means for transporting the meat between the stations
means for electronically storing information related to the meat
computing means for processing the stored information,
means for communication between the stations and the computing means, and
means for automatic recognition of the meat and/or a worker.